Water Blogged

Today we went to an impact study after a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and yogurt.

The impact study took place in Masai village, where we visited a school that has been using P&G water purifying packets. They welcomed us with an exciting dance and song along with their bright purple uniforms. One of the students demonstrated how they use the packets. She used a 5 gallon bucket filled with very dirty water from a nearby pond.  After pouring in the product, she began to stir.  Her fellow students counted in unison to 300.  This would mean the required 5 minutes was achieved. She followed the rest of the directions and 20 minutes later there was clean water!  We all had a taste and it was just like the water I get out of my tap at home.

The headmaster said that the implementation of the packets has resulted in much healthier students and less absences. They also demonstrated the tippy tap that was hanging from a nearby tree. The students had learned a song about the alphabet that they sung assuring that they scrubbed their hands for enough time.  The latrines at the school were severely lacking and falling apart, and will hopefully be addressed sometime soon.

We then visited two separate Masai family homes (huts) that were also using the P&G packets. They seemed like happy and healthy families with little children running around playing. Again, the water source was very dirty and stagnant. The women demonstrated how they carry buckets of water on their heads to transport it home.  Their source was only about a quarter mile away, which is much closer than most have to travel. Several of the Summit on the Summit participants tried to carry the water with mixed results and a lot of whining.  We then started the one hour trek back to our hotel, which actually took 3 hours due to bumpy, narrow, dusty roads and an accident that backed up traffic for miles. It was a great day and very eye opening and educational for many of the visitors.

Stay tuned for more updates!